Marriott getting tough with BeachPlace HOA!!!

[pwrshift]

Eric ... thanks for the update. I'm very pleased about the studio situation. Could you elaborate on the 'compromise' TV's ... in my town a 43" LG and Sony are not much different in price...was the compromize in size? Was parking discussed and revised ... or staying at $17 a night?

Brian

 

[Icarus]

That's great news, Eric. Congratulations.

-David

 

[minoter]

According to the LG web site, the company does not make a 43 inch TV, so a valid comparison based on the question asked cannot be made. Marriott has indicated that their purchasing power for HDTVs that will comply with the new digital TV standards in 2009 for the 37 inch LG (living room) and 32 inch LG (bedroom) compared to Sony will result in a savings. The Board has not agreed to increase the approved refurbishment budget.

The Board agreed to review the parking charge at BeachPlace. Marriott has no issue with a BeachPlace parking charge for renters (hotel type guests) and non-MVCI exchangers. A charge for parking at BeachPlace for that group of occupants will not change. The Board has agreed to consider a change in the parking charge for 2008 and forward for all MVCI exchangers if Marriott can develop a budget neutral solution. Marriott has agreed to present their attempt at a solution no later than the May, 2008 Board meeting. Until then, I will make no more comments on this matter.

Eric Minotti

 

[pwrshift]

Thanks Eric. I assume you're on your annual Florida vacation time and hope you enjoy it.

BPT owners here appreciate your communications with us more than you perhaps realize. Without this contact, owners feel are on the outside looking in and feel they have to count on Marriott to defend our ideals of ownership instead of the HOA. That isn't the way it should be. Any TUG thread of more than 3600 views indicates an impressive showing of great concern of all Marriott owners, not just owners of BPT.

You have served us well, and I hope you continue on the Board.

Brian

 

[buzzy]

Eric,

I want to thank you too, as it makes my ownership of BPT more valuable instead of "why did I buy this"? I appreciate your updates as well.

Do you know when II will change it's studio occupancy to read 4 instead of 3?

Thanks again Eric!

 

[minoter]

Buzzy,

The II website should be changed by mid-February. However, we were told that the II phone associates will be informed of the change within a week.

I am sure Marriott will change their Marriott websites as soon as possible.

Eric

 

[thinze3]

Brian,
Is it time for me to buy MBP yet??

 

[Michigan Czar]

Eric,

I appreciate the updates and I am glad to hear a compromise was completed.

Jim

 

[thinze3]

I spoke to a Marriott sales person this weekend about MBP. The platinum units are now $29,900 and offer 110,000 MR points every year. Wow, I didn't realize that they were that high now! Gold units are $19,900.

Anyhow, she stated that the renovations at MBP would include upgrading the appliances to the new stainless steel, like Marco Island and Oceana Palms. She also said that the renovations would include crown molding and flat screen televisions.

I had not heard about the crown molding and stainless appliances. Have any of you?

 

[jerseyfinn]

A very interesting thread.

Although I'm not a BPT owner, I think that any of us who own MVC can learn something here about the relationship between Marriott and the various resorts and the complexeties of creating both a stable relationship with Marriott while melding resorts into a relatively uniform MVC product which serves owner interests.

I'm appreciative that Eric steps forward to inform and educate. If there's one thing which really annoys me at present with Marriott's management policy, it's the invisibility of our HOA members. I think it's time for every owner to have direct contact information to our board members rather than this foolish system which requires us to contact our resort first which in turn is suppossed to forward our querey/comments to the board member ( a Marriott.com address would work just fine for me).

Our relationship with Marriott should be mutual and synergistic, but Marriott should always remember that it is we owners who plunked down big bucks to purchase weeks, and we owners who pay the MFs which fund their profitable management contracts. It's their brand and they do indeed get to call most of the big shots ( which is a necessary consequence of this sort of relationship), but Marriott rules with our consent.

What I'm pulling out of this thread is that although Marriott goes to great lengths to try to create a uniform TS product, there are factors beyond the control of both Marriott and owners which prevent fully transparent uniformity.

In the case of BPT, it's interesting to learn that only 20% of owners actually occupy their weeks. This has to have an influence upon the character and function of the resort. The 30% taking points are a measure of how Marriott has been marketing these weeks as an alternative MRP ATM machine -- and this is not necessarily a bad thing. I would be curious if Eric knows what the annual occupancy rate at BPT is. Likewise, I'm curious if the BPT Platinum season has more than 20% owner occupancy.

To illustrate resort differences: Ocean Pointe some 40 miles north has a year round occupancy rate exceeding 90%. In platinum season, owners represent 90% of occupants ( my figures come from remarks by the OP GM in August 2007 ). I don't know our aggregate annual % of owner occupancy or % taking points versus trading etc. (perhaps an OP board member reading this might choose to comment).

In any case, best wished to BPT owners and their board as they try to move forward and hash things out with Marriott. It's an unenviable task, but very necessary. With the looming changes as Marriott subsumes II's exchange role for Marriott owners, I think it's very important that our boards at all of the MVC properties are fully plugged into these issues and that we owners have direct and fluid contact with our board members. Owner feedback and board participation is very important to the future for the investment that each of us have made in Marriott TS.

Barry

 

[pwrshift]

...If there's one thing which really annoys me at present with Marriott's management policy, it's the invisibility of our HOA members. I think it's time for every owner to have direct contact information to our board members rather than this foolish system which requires us to contact our resort first which in turn is suppossed to forward our querey/comments to the board member ( a Marriott.com address would work just fine for me).

...To illustrate resort differences: Ocean Pointe some 40 miles north has a year round occupancy rate exceeding 90%. In platinum season, owners represent 90% of occupants ( my figures come from remarks by the OP GM in August 2007 ). I don't know our aggregate annual % of owner occupancy or % taking points versus trading etc. (perhaps an OP board member reading this might choose to comment).

Barry

Barry, you're right on the money here ... IMO the HOA at BPT (and probably other Marriott TS boards) is making decisions for owners in isolation, without the benefit of owner surveys and direct owner feedback. In addition, there is very little contact to these owners who would find, as I did, that the HOA knows only 20% of owners use the resort, 30% trade for points, and 50% exchange. Not only is the HOA unavailable to owners directly, they are not communicating resort info to the owners they serve other than to rant that Marriott didn't like the changes they proposed, such as changing occupancy in studios to only 3 adults. Marriott, in fact, has more contact with the BPT owners than the HOA! Sad.

In post 100 in this thread, Eric says BPT has a 95% occupancy rate, I believe one of the highest in the Marriott system. The power of the location ... not the quality of the resort.

Brian

 

[thinze3]

... IMO the HOA at BPT (and probably other Marriott TS boards) is making decisions for owners in isolation, without the benefit of owner surveys and direct owner feedback...
Brian

I sent an email today to the General Manager at Waiohai asking for some members of the HOA to contact me.

I wrote that I wanted to discuss the possibility of a Waiohai owner's website (similar to Aruba's). I also stated that I would like to see members of the HOA join discussion boards like Tug in order to get input from actual owners.

This is all in hopes of preventing the next MBP debacle. We shall see.

 

[jerseyfinn]

In post 100 in this thread, Eric says BPT has a 95% occupancy rate

Brian,

Thanks for the info . . . I must have skipped over it.

BPT overall occupancy pretty much mirrors Ocean Pointe's. No surprise there as it is indeed about location. Still the opposite owner occupancy figures at the two resorts also speak volumes. OTOH, it indicates that there is no one way for a resort to function. IOW, there's all sorts of ways to market a specific TS resort.

However, it does seem that the "disconnect" between owners and their resort and HOA is greater when less owners actually occupy at their resort. It's not due to negligence or disinterest, but if you're not occupying your home resort with some modicum of regularlity, you're simply not seeing/experiencing the nuances of the resort, and feedback will not be as strong and it will take longer to bring things to the attention of the HOA. Indeed, Marriott attempts to obtain feedback from all guests, but I firmly believe that owners are the ultimate caretakers of their resorts.

Judging by the interest in Brian's thread, it appears that owners are becoming more engaged. Likewise it's very helpful that you at least have one board member speaking openly to their owners here on TUG. And communication is what it's all about.

The moral of this story remains the same to me. It's time for Marriott to take heed that the owners are an essential part of the partnership equation in this MVC relationship. Owners can cede a great deal of ( necessary ) authority to Marriott so that they can run it in the best interest of all parties. But Marriott should not step over us. It is essential that board members at all resorts come out of the holes in which they've been hiding/lurking. Mind you, I'm not accusing our HOAs of shirking responsibility/duty. But many boards and Marriott have gotten too cozy with the present arrangement. It's time to end the transparancy and make access to our board members more fluid and open.

One approach is for board members who "lurk" here on TUG to become more active and informative in threads on this board ( you can indeed speak freely while allowing Marriott the drivers seat it so desires ). Likewise, when a board memeber is on property at their resort, put up a sign that says you're there so we owners might seek you out for a friendly chat. Finally, we owners must become vocal advocates of change by contacting our HOA, seeking out board members while staying at our home resorts, and letting the resort GMs know that things need changing in the Marriott universe.

I'm not advocating a Boston Tea Party here. I remain generally satisfied with the MVC product and the destination travel that we enjoy. I simply want fluid access to my HOA and the ability to speak my mind since I've put up the big bucks to own and I pay the annual MFs which feed Marriott. Hopefully, others feel the same

Barry

 

[PerryM]

Whac-A-Timeshare game?

BPT is an example of what the timeshare market seems to dream about – own where you want to vacation and then never go there and convert usage into exchanges, rent, or Marriott Reward Points which eventually get rented to the public.

As this happens, fewer and fewer owners stay there and more and more non-owners invade and trash the place. Maybe trash is a harsh word but when I rent something I always have the mental attitude of “Hey, it’s just a rental”. The owners don't want to keep the place up for a bunch of renters/exchangers so dump fees on them.

Marriott could care less – they made their money selling the units, make their money managing the place, and make some bucks doing sales. They convert their MRPs to cash with rentals to the public and since there are a ton of exchanges they make more money charging more cleaning fees.

It’s the owners who are caught in exactly what everyone seems to want in a timeshare and they don’t seem that happy.

Oh well, this is going to be fun to watch over the years.

I don’t think the problems will go away but change form and reappear as something else to solve. Kind of like a timeshare Whac-A-Mole.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Marriott Beach Place Tower Experience

I revisited Marriott's Beach Place Tower last year, and after negotiating many stories up a poorly designed expensive parking garage, and waiting 10 minutes for elevator service (and crowded at that) I decided this wasn't the place for me ever again. Additionally, some of the common area carpeting appeared to be dirty and the outdoor pool didn't receive any sun after 1:00 pm due to its location on the sixth floor.

I originally visited this property about six years ago, and at that time Marriott owned the lot next door and was planning another building. But, I see now that they sold this land and another developer built condos there instead of more TS.

I'll take Ocean Pointe over Beach Place any day!